Gaines to receive MLK Community Service Award

Monday

Jan 13, 2014 at 3:00 PM

By David FrownfelderDaily Telegram Staff Writer

A foster — and real life — grandmother will be honored with the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award.

Addie Gaines of Adrian will be presented the award at the annual MLK Dinner at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 20, at Benincasa Hall on the campus of Siena Heights University. A 5:30 p.m. reception preceeds the dinner.

Gaines worked at the Adrian Dominican Life Center for 14 years, until she retired in 2009. She is now involved with the Foster Grandparent Program and is active in a number of church-related programs and efforts at the Second Baptist Church in Adrian.

“I just love working with the kids,” Gaines said. “So many kids don’t get the love they need at home, so I show them as much love as I can at school.”

She was nominated by many of the Dominican sisters. The nomination form submitted by Diane Howard cited her positive impact on students.

“When she volunteered in class, Addie would make it a point to make sure she would speak to every student before leaving for the day,” Howard wrote.

Gaines said that is just part of her job. She gets a lot of enjoyment from participating in the program.

“I like getting and giving hugs,” she said. “My daughter got me involved. She heard about the program at school and told me I should get in there.”

Gaines has lived in Adrian for nearly 40 years. She lived for a while in Texas, but came back to Adrian in the mid-1970s.

Emily Martinez, one of the organizers of the MLK Dinner, said Gaines was a unanimous choice for the award. Martinez said she has known Gaines for many years.

“She is a good mother, a good caretaker. She brought up her children to be gentle people, very good kids,” she said. “She has had a rough life, but has been blessed by these children.”

She is known for encouraging students and for helping the less privileged, Howard wrote. Gaines doesn’t just limit her help and love to the foster grandparents program. She helps her daughter Georgia take care of her children, ages 13, 11 and 8.

“I really love to cook. I get them off to school in the morning and take care of them for her,” Gaines said. “She works so hard and I help her as much as I can.”

This Christmas, Gaines put her faith and character in action by helping a man who had nowhere to go for the holiday, giving him warm meals and a place to stay briefly. Martinez said that is just one example of Gaines’ good heart.

“That is why we selected her as the honoree,” she said.

The speaker at the MLK dinner will be Dale Nesbary, president of Muskegon Community College and former vice president and dean of academic affairs at Adrian College. The reservation deadline for tickets has passed.